I Want You To Want To
by Dashel
Summary: Sasuke saves Naruto from certain death but only to serve him up to the Akatsuki so he can suffer certain death at their hands instead. But first he needs to heal the battered ninja up a bit. But will spending time together again change his mind?
1. Chapter 1

**Dash General Warnings (Important, please read): **This is Yaoi. If you are still here I will also add that this fic will probably contain swearing and sex and all sorts of other goodies. Still here? Well this fic might also contain no predetermined roles in respect to sexual activities. Yep, I have to add this as a warning now. But what that means is that in my stories no one is ever solely uke or seme or batman or whatever predefined roles people might expect. Or they might be but I might not know who it will be from the beginning. Sometimes one person will top, sometimes the other will depending on my mood or where the story needs to go. Sometimes it will switch mid story if I feel like it. Please do not continue if you have preferences for either character and will be upset if whoever you expect to top doesn't. Generally not even I know who will do what at the very beginning of a fic and will decide as I go along. They may not swap at all, but I like to keep my options open and I do not want to make people read multiple chapters of my fic only to dislike the sex scenes.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the characters. They belong to other people (you know who you are) Also, I haven't read the manga in a while or watched any anime episodes in just as long so I can't give you any sort of timeframe here. Just imagine it wherever it seems to fit. I'm also because of that not going for technical accuracy on really anything so pointing out where I screwed up a name, description or timeline will not phase me. Feel free to do it if you like, but I won't fix it cause I could not be arsed. This is purely for fun, nothing more. I was bored one afternoon and I just hope I can maybe cure somebody else's boredom for one afternoon too.

Sasuke saves Naruto from certain death but only to serve him up to the Akatsuki so he can suffer certain death at their hands instead. But first he needs to heal the battered ninja up because there is no way Sasuke is gonna carry him the whole way back himself. Sounds romantic no? Hehe sarcasm.

I Want You To Want To

By Dash

Part I

It shouldn't have been such a great shock. He should have sensed something was off and now it was perhaps too late. That was what he got for leaving Karin behind. He had gotten used to her being there, being able to tell him well in advance if there was anyone close. And now that she and his other team mates were well up ahead, waiting for him patiently in the next town he hadn't been on proper guard, hadn't been paying close enough attention to his surroundings and now it may be too late to get away.

Not that he was especially worried either. The odd random shinobi coming across him didn't bother him in the slightest because he was confident in his abilities to fight them off if necessary.

He took a closer look at his surrounds with the help of sharingan and was able to discern not one but two sources of chakra. Neither were getting closer to him, neither seemed to realise he was here. He had been so tense lately it had never occurred to him that it might have just been coincidence, that the shinobi in the forest ahead were not here for him and on another mission entirely.

He was about to change his path to go around them when he noticed something interesting. Large chakra bursts were being exchanged as though the two unknown ninja were fighting. This wasn't terribly interesting, but what did interest him was that one of the ninja was commanding such a large mass of chakra. This ninja was obviously powerful and it spiked his curiosity to find out who it might be and if this person might be either useful or a threat.

He got closer to the battle all the while, watching the chakra exchange with those blood red eyes growing more and more confused by the moment. This ninja with the huge chakra reserves seemed to be losing and that was odd. Furthermore, it seemed possible that that ninja was losing through lack of skill rather than lack of power. Wild unnecessary chakra bursts were going off with apparent abandon having little focus on direction or usage.

He didn't know why, but it all seemed very familiar to Sasuke somehow. He found out why a few moments later when he got close enough to see the faces of the combatants.

Curiosity had carried him this far and he really regretted that he'd let it. It turned out his assumption was wrong. This ninja would be of no use and posed no danger as far as he was concerned.

Naruto was fighting a shinobi from the land of shadows and as Sasuke had surmised on the way over, was losing. And quite badly too.

He'd had little respect for his former team mate's abilities in the past so it didn't surprise him to learn that Naruto was having a hard time, but it did surprise him to learn just how hard a time he was having. Not even someone like Naruto could have gone all these years without improving his abilities even a little and as Sasuke watched, he found not only had Naruto apparently shown no improvement, he also appeared to have gotten worse. Even he considered that was impossible.

Curiosity had bought him this far, he supposed indulging it a little longer wouldn't hurt. He focussed his sight wholly onto Naruto and saw the real reason for his lack of ability. His chakra was so out of balance, Sasuke was surprised he had as much control over it as he did. It was taking a monumental amount of effort on Naruto's part just to manipulate as much of it as he was without losing it altogether. But it couldn't last, whatever jutsu the other ninja had performed in order to do that to Naruto's chakra it was slowly but surely doing it's job. Naruto's chakra was draining out in waves and soon he would be nothing but a boneless unconscious heap in the grass, easy pray for his attacker.

Sasuke could care less. He watched the fight through to its inevitable conclusion, watched his old friend fall just as he'd predicted. The shadow ninja didn't finish him off. He merely picked up Naruto's unconscious body and retreated.

Sasuke stayed on after the ninja departed though. He wasn't bothered by Naruto's capture, that would be absurd. Actually it would be one less thorn in his side knowing that Naruto and the rest of the leaf ninja out to recover him would have other things to focus on for a little while. So why was he still here, watching the spot Naruto had been taking from, dwelling on the issue?

He knew the Akatsuki wanted Naruto, that must be the reason. Of course if it were up to him, he could leave right now with little to no real consideration to the dobe's fate. But now there was the Akatsuki to consider. Sasuke knew Madara needed the nine tails and the opportunity might have just presented itself to capture Naruto easily.

His team mates weren't expecting him any time soon to meet up with them, he had told them before setting out on his own that he could be gone for weeks. Right now, he felt he should follow the nine tails.

The Village Hidden in the Shadows was known to Sasuke, he'd been here on previous errands for Orochimaru. They weren't exactly allies with the Sound Village, but neither were they enemies. The shadow village actually had no real allies at all being a very small land with little to no strategic or monetary gain in it for the larger nations to consider befriending or attacking them. Not to mean that their shinobi weren't skilled either. The shinobi here, because of their complex about being of little worth as a nation went, were highly trained and very skilful. But there were so few of them to be meaningless in the grand scheme of nations.

Having nothing to fear, Sasuke entered the village and made for the leader's modest headquarters toward the centre of the little town. The leader knew Sasuke by sight having had dealings with him previously and greeted him the same as he did when Sasuke had been in his former master's employ. Not very warmly, but not hostile either.

"You can't be here on behalf of your master, rumour has it he's dead," The village leader began without the hassle welcoming small talk.

"I'm not," Sasuke replied shortly.

"Rumour also has it that you were the one that finally did the old snake in."

It took no effort for Sasuke to keep both his face and voice expressionless. These days the real effort was emoting anything other than general disgust and anger.

"Rumour, for once isn't lying. Will this be a problem?"

The leader shrugged, "I could care less. I'm not going to miss the Sound's work. So what is this about? Have you taken over?"

There was no point in lying here. Sasuke got straight to the point. "No. I witnessed the capture of a leaf shinobi by one of your jonin in the forest to the south. I wanted to know what your business was with him."

The leader unexpectedly grinned at him. "I have no idea who you could possibly mean."

The leader was playing with him to judge by the smile.

"Of course you do."

The leader shrugged again. He had little to fear from Sasuke knowing he had a leaf prisoner. Sasuke was a confident ninja, but there were probably enough shadow ninja guarding their new acquisition to kill him outright. The number of ninja in the village might have been small but they were highly skilled and Sasuke was just one man.

"Uzumaki Naruto. What of it?" The leader relied as though it mattered little.

"He's wanted by some associates of mine."

"Heh, kid must get around. I have a bounty to collect from that one. A substantial bounty I might add."

"Who's the contract with?"

"Boy, you know better than to ask that."

That was true. The leader would never give up that information. The Shadow ninja were quite often hired as bounty hunters and spies. If it got out that they were telling random rogue ninja who their clients were, work would become very scarce. Sasuke wondered briefly if the client was Madara after all but didn't give it real consideration. Madara didn't need this village to hunt for tailed beats, that's what the Akatsuki was for.

Instead he got down to business. "What's the bounty?"

"More than you can afford now you don't have your Master's money behind you."

"You'd be wrong."

Leader's eyebrows shot up at that one. "Oh? It's still too bad. Can't let it be said that I sold off my client's bounty. That would be bad for business."

Sasuke tried not to sigh. It was all a farce. No one outside the village would know what the leader had done apart from Sasuke. He was simply digging for more money.

"I can make it more worth your while than handing him over to them," Sasuke told him bluntly. "With an added bonus. If your client isn't picky about whether they get him alive or not, I'll return him in whatever state he's in after we're done with him and you can collect your bounty twice. Once off me, and again off your client."

The leader was pretending to think this over but it was obvious his mind was already made up. "What assurance do I have that you'll return the body?"

"None. I'll make no promises but I don't think you really expected me to. If he is not returned in one state or another, you'll still have more than the bounty was worth."

"Worth potentially pissing off a client? Not hardly."

"They won't know. Not even you have a hundred percent capture rate, one less bounty wont hurt you. Besides, I should think potentially pissing off the fire country would be a worse state of affairs."

It was an unmistakable threat. And the leader started to look very angry, but Sasuke had had enough of the conversation.

"Before you decide to kill me," Sasuke warned. "Know that I'm not the only one that witnessed the event. I can convince them not to talk, but only in person," he lied smoothly.

The leader didn't look happy, but he knew he'd been cornered. The fire country was large and had a lot of ninja in comparison to the shadow country. The leader knew, with this sort of a threat, Sasuke didn't have to offer the money, but he had. And that made the decision a little easier to swallow.

""Fine, you can have him. But if anyone hears about this, anyone, I'll know who to come looking for."

Sasuke smirked at the threat. "I'll keep that in mind."

When he was lead into the cells below the shadow village headquarters the smell that assaulted his nose was possibly the worst thing he'd ever smelt in his entire life. It was a nauseous mixture of death, bodily excrement, and fear. These were the cells where they put their more dangerous captives before handing them over to whoever had paid them enough or sometimes it was where they were left to rot if the client hadn't come good with the payment.

Naruto was probably here because it was him a very steep bounty on his head and therefore they had figured that he was a dangerous one.

Sasuke found him chained to the wall, barely conscious and in such a poor condition that it was obvious now that the client didn't particularly care if he was still breathing when he was handed over.

Something in the sight of seeing his childhood companion chained up in this filth, covered in blood and wounds, half naked and obviously hurting made him angry. He didn't really understand why except for the passing thought that he'd probably feel this for anyone trapped here in these conditions.

They opened the door for him and Sasuke stepped into the cell and walked over to Naruto. The other man's head was lolling against his chest and Sasuke gripped his chin and raised his head enough to see that his eyes were open a little and though his breathing was a little heavy it was even.

Naruto's eyes opened a little wider when he focused on who was standing in front of him but Sasuke stepped in and put his lips next to Naruto's ear before he could make a sound and whispered, "If you talk to me like we're friends I will not be able to take you out of here."

Naruto didn't try to speak after that. He tried to stay still while the shackles were taken off him but faltered when he no longer had anything to hold him up anymore. Sasuke grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Do you want us to tie him up for you?" One of the guards helpfully enquired. After all they were merely transferring a prisoner, not letting one go free.

Sasuke looked at them, his eyes the color of blood. "I do not need shackles to control him."

The guard swallowed and stepped back to let the pair by.

It was impossible for Naruto to walk at the moment and Sasuke was keen to leave the village behind. So he merely slung his prisoner over his shoulder and kept walking, ignoring the painful gasps this was causing.

He wasn't verbally protesting the treatment though. The dobe probably thought he was being rescued. But when the sun started to set, the groaning got loud and it started to bother Sasuke having to listen to it.

He had always liked his errands into the Shadow Country for two reasons. One, they were a practical people and generally easy to deal with. And two, it held his favorite camping ground. It was a large clearing, almost completely surrounded by rocks and trees for privacy and a small lagoon fed by a waterfall coming down off one of the rock outcrops. In all the times he'd been here he'd never been even remotely disturbed by anyone and he figured this was a good a place as any for Naruto to recover enough so that Sasuke didn't have to carry him all the way back by himself. His back was aching with the effort of even doing it for a couple of hours, he didn't want to be doing it for the days it would take Sasuke to walk back so burdened.

Without stopping when entering the clearing, Sasuke walked across the lagoon shore to a shallow area and dumped his burden into the water with little care. Naruto made a sharp loud noise as he was dropped and gasped in pain when he hit the shallow rocky shelf. Naruto was practically lying in the water, his legs dangling off the edge of the shallow shelf he was on, fighting to keep his head up with whatever strength was left him.

Sasuke pulled off his shirt and jumped in to stand in the waist high water next to Naruto's legs. He grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him roughly into a sitting position. With a torn piece of cloth, he set about cleaning off the blood and dirt from the other's body.

Sasuke wasn't looking at his face, but he could tell Naruto was watching him.

"What?" He said eventually, impatiently when the staring continued.

"Am I dreaming?"

Sasuke scoffed at the question. "Would you be in this much pain if you were dreaming?"

That proved to be a stumper for him and he remained quiet for at least ten more minutes.

"Why would you come for me?" Sasuke would have expected a little hope in his voice when he asked that question. Instead he heard nothing but confused shock. That bothered him for some unidentifiable reason.

"This isn't a mission of mercy."

"Didn't think so. You really are working for the Akatsuki, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Sasuke didn't respond.

"Why are you bothering to clean me up then, if you're just gonna hand me over to get soul sucked like Gaara did?"

"Because unlike the last people that had you, I care whether you live or die."

"Really?" Naruto asked unconvinced.

"You're worthless dead. They need you alive for the ceremony. Now shut up. I may have to take care of you, but I don't have to talk to you as well."

Naruto didn't seem surprised by this news. He seemed too worn out to care either way. Sasuke was surprised though that Naruto hadn't started at him about coming back to the village with him yet.

Sasuke frowned at the various cuts and scrapes covering most of Naruto's body. He hadn't gotten most of these in the fight. Naruto's head had started to loll apparently soothed by his old friend washing his body down but Sasuke shook his leg to wake him up.

"Why did they beat you? They had you caught and captured." He asked when it looked like Naruto was awake enough to hear the question.

It still took a couple of seconds before he seemed to hear the question before Naruto smiled. Being in this kind of shape, it was unexpected to see him smile like that. Sasuke hadn't seen him smile since before he'd run away from the village.

"I woke up."

And that was apparently enough of an answer. And thinking about it, Sasuke understood. Naruto had woken up and fought back with everything he had. He would have been drained of chakra and extremely worn out, but Naruto never gave up. These more recent cuts and bruises were from the Shadow ninja attempting to beat him into submission.

That was something, maybe the only thing he'd ever really admired about Naruto, his total and complete inability to accept his own shitty fate.

And this bought him to another question. Sure he was worn and beaten but Naruto never stopped fighting. Why wasn't he trying to fight against Sasuke? He obviously knew Sasuke hadn't retrieved him from the goodness of his heart.

"And why aren't you fighting now? You know what will happen if the Akatsuki get you."

Naruto watched Sasuke for a moment before replying. "Maybe I don't think you'll really do it."

Sasuke gave him a _look_.

Naruto frowned. "If you know I'm lying, why aren't I tied up?"

"You won't leave," Sasuke told him with confidence that surprised him. He didn't know why he was so sure, he just was. Maybe it was because Naruto seemed to spend his entire existence running after him. Now they were together, and he wasn't being handed over to Madera just yet, what possible reason did he have to leave?

"I'm too tired," Naruto told him.

Sasuke knew he was lying again. Naruto would have to be dead not to keep fighting. But he didn't feel like pointing this out. He didn't feel like talking anymore.

Instead he continued with his ministrations, washing the blood and grime off Naruto's chest, shoulders and face. When he was done the tanned skin didn't look half as bad as he had thought it might. The injuries were bad, but there was nothing mortally wrong with him, nothing that a few days recovery wouldn't fix.

"Hnn."

He could have sworn the injuries would be worse, he didn't understand how he'd been wrong.

If Naruto heard him he didn't take any notice. His head had begun to loll against his chest again.

Sasuke lay him back against the bank and let him sleep where he was.

The sun was starting to set and it was starting to get a little colder. Sasuke went back over to the lagoon and knelt down next to Naruto's head. He needed to wake him up so he didn't end up with a cold and thus undermining the whole getting him better idea. Naruto seemed a lot better. A lot of the minor scrapes and scratches almost seemed healed making Sasuke frown. Naruto had always been a fast healer but this was a little bizarre. After he'd inspected the worst of it went to wake him up but stopped. In true form, Naruto was snoring lightly, mouth open, and eyes squeezed shut just like he did on countless missions when Sasuke had been a part of team 7. Apparently embarrassing sleeping poses weren't a childhood habit he would grow out of.

He felt it happen before he realised he was doing it, a small, tiny half smile. When he noticed what he was doing he made an effort to frown and slapped the side of Naruto's face in order to wake him up. It was perhaps a shade harder than necessary.

Naruto coughed and woke up quite suddenly, clearly out of sorts at the violent wake up method.

"Dobe, you'll catch a cold. Get up."

When Naruto's eyes focussed on him he seemed to remember where he was and whom he was here with along with everything else that had happened today. He went from blissful ignorance to angry within a matter of moments.

"Teme," Naruto muttered. He got to his feet with Sasuke's reluctant aid and was led over to the campfire he'd made and dumped unceremoniously onto a blanket by the fire.

"You're worried about me catching a cold, but not about injuring me huh?" Naruto asked darkly.

Sasuke took a seat on a log on the other side of the fire where he was tending to some fish cooking over the flames. "A cold could last weeks. Apparently bruises for you last only hours." Sasuke said matter-of-factly. "Is it the demon chakra that heals you?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden unexpected question. "You should know I'm a fast healer."

"Never this fast. And you didn't answer the question."

"What does it matter?"

Sasuke raised a single eyebrow. "It doesn't. I'm just accustomed to getting answers when I ask questions. Usually I don't find myself having to ask them twice."

The obvious threat was there, but Naruto ignored it.

"I'm not afraid of you. Not from a coward like you."

"A coward?" Sasuke asked darkly.

"You heard me. You ran away from the village so you could get strong and kill your brother. Well, mission accomplished. But here you are still running away. I only know one kinda person that does that."

"You only think I'm running away because I'm not running back to the village. I have found a purpose that doesn't include you or your hateful village. Calling me a coward because I don't share in your dreams doesn't make me a coward. It makes me focussed."

"Well, whatever. I think you're too scared to come back. You haven't lived a single moment of your life when you aren't focussed on revenge. I don't think you'd know what to do if you didn't have that anymore. You have to have something to hate don't you?"

Sasuke didn't look at him, just flicked another twig into to fire. "You assume there is something I actually like in this world."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Of course there is. You. Uchiha Sasuke, I think you like him a lot. So did I, once upon a time," Naruto finished quietly.

"You think I care if you hate me now?"

"I never said I hated you. I…never mind." Naruto rolled himself up in the blanket he was sitting on a put his back to the fire. Apparently their conversation was over.

This was not how Sasuke expected the conversation to go. He didn't think for one moment he would be dealing with a Naruto that just didn't seem to care about him anymore. He told himself that this should have been a relief. But somehow it wasn't.

"Why haven't you asked me to come back yet?" Sasuke asked after a moment.

"Would it make a difference if I did? Do you need to be able to tell me 'no' again _that_ badly?" Naruto asked without turning around.

Sasuke wasn't used to feeling unwanted. It was a childish thought, but it was there all the same. It had never occurred to him that if he kept treating people as he did there would come a day when they just stopped wanting him for anything anymore. Somebody always wanted something from him. Even if it was something he didn't want to give. And he always got a small thrill from the knowledge that he didn't really need them, not really, but they needed. Apparently this had drastically changed for Naruto. He didn't want Sasuke anymore. Oh well, at least that would make things easier.

"I just wondered whatever happened to your self righteous crusade to save me from myself?" Sasuke asked scornfully.

"It seems to me that some things might not be worth saving anymore. You don't care about any bond we might have had. You decided to kill me on a whim the last time I bought it up. I had intended to drag you kicking and screaming if necessary back to the village just so you'd be home. I thought you'd be okay if you could see how people missed you and cared about you. But I know you don't care anymore and nothing will change that. Why bother?"

"It's nice to see you've come to your senses. Took you long enough."

Naruto unrolled himself from the blanket and sat up quicker than Sasuke would've thought him capable of. "I want to ask you one thing though."

"Make it quick."

"Did you ever really care about me, did you ever see us as real friends or was I just the closet thing you had that even resembled a friend?"

Sasuke gave him a sardonic half smile. "What's the matter, feeling under loved?"

"Just answer the question," Naruto growled out.

Sasuke thought this over for a moment. He honestly didn't know how to answer it. "You were the only one who ever stood up to me. Everyone else was either too scared or too besotted to do anything other than nod and smile whenever I was around. You challenged me constantly, even if you were no match for me in any way. I suppose that meant something then. Even if it sometimes meant I had to clean up your messes and save you from your own idiocy."

"And now?"

"Now, I think not. I would have let that Shadow Ninja take you away without a second thought if the Akatsuki didn't need you. I think it's pitiful that you spent so much time chasing after me when I hardly spared a thought for you. That is what makes us different. I will do anything to reach my goals. You would not do anything that clashed with your warped sense of morals and ideals."

"You're right. I can't believe I wasted my time like that either. You obviously aren't the person you used to be."

"You mean I'm not the person you imagined I was. I think you have this built up image in your mind of this best friend you had and projected onto me. I haven't changed Naruto, you have just come to see the real me finally."

"Maybe that's true. But if that's the case, if you are this true evil asshole that would do anything to get ahead, why not kill those men at the Northern Hideout? Yeah, I heard about that. You gave your team orders not to kill. What's up with that?"

Sasuke glared at him. "You have no idea what I have done, what I have been made to do to get where I am, to be as powerful as I am right now!"

The force of the statement obviously surprised Naruto. He watched Sasuke with a little more curiosity than the previous malice shown before.

"What you were made you do? You mean by Orochimaru?"

Sasuke was suddenly very sorry he'd lost his temper and blurted that out.

"It doesn't matter. It's done and I got what I wanted in the end."

Knowing Naruto like Sasuke did he expected him to continue pestering him. Instead he stared for a few moments longer at Sasuke before simply rolling himself back into the blanket and staring at the fire instead.

"I matters to me," he said quietly after a moment. "Well, it used to."

But Sasuke didn't respond. He began to eat his food in silence. It tasted like ash.

Good start? Meh, not too sure. It was a start anyway. Let me know if you find it interesting and I'll add more. It wasn't meant to be this long, it was only meant to be a little fluff, but hey, I suppose a little plot can't hurt either to get you in the mood.

_-Dash_


	2. Chapter 2

I Want You To Want To

Part II

He didn't know what had woken him, but something disturbed his sleep in the middle of the night.

He came to full alertness in seconds but kept still until he understood what had woken him up. Naruto was snoring his usual deafening loudness and although they had been away from each other for years, surprisingly that wasn't what had woken him. That noise he was used to. No, something was off.

He sensed it just before he heard it, a very slight rustle in the leaves above him. He rolled to the side just as a kunai thunked into the ground where he had been lying. He rolled onto his feet, bringing his sword with him and drew it just as the ninja who had attacked him burst from the tree where he'd been hiding and dashed toward him.

Naruto's snoring abruptly stopped as he finally realised something was going on around him, but Sasuke didn't even spare him a glance. Even if Naruto felt compelled to fight alongside his captor, he still wasn't well enough to try. Not that Sasuke needed to help, these ninja were obviously amateurs. He sliced at the one coming towards him who tried to dodge but was nowhere near fast enough and fell to the ground dead. But Sasuke knew there was another one out there, somewhere on the other side of the clearing. He watched the tree line intently waiting for his prey to make a mistake. They did, a small sound, but it was enough. Making the appropriate hand gestures, Sasuke inhaled deeply.

Just as he let loose the fireball two things happened. One, a sheet of water erupted from the lagoon in between his intended target and him which would effectively render his jutsu useless and leave him open to attack. And two, he felt pressure on his back as though someone had their hand there and he felt a major surge of chakra flow through him and combine with his jutsu.

The fireball became massive and burned bright and white and rolled right through the sheet of water turning it into steam. The fireball then hit the assailant in the trees setting him and a couple of trees near him alight. They burned brightly for a moment before turning to ash. Thankfully the fire hadn't lasted long enough to set anymore trees on fire.

He could sense no more threats and turned to find out what had happened and saw an unconscious Naruto lying on the ground behind him. Sasuke knelt down to check on him, feeling for a pulse first then when he'd found it strong he felt his temperature. He was very warm.

Sasuke picked him up and carried him back to the cool water of the lagoon and put him back onto the shelf he had used earlier in the day to wash him down.

Naruto wasn't unconscious after all and sighed when his body entered the water.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Something I learnt from Ero-Sannin and the toads. It's combining two elemental type chakras into one jutsu."

Sasuke was understandably unconvinced. "Don't you need to train together to pull something like that off?"

But Naruto after wearing himself out letting out that much chakra seemed to be in his own little dream world of remembrance. "You just need to be in synch with the toad. Total synchronisation and understanding."

"Did you just call me a toad?" Sasuke asked cupping his hands and pouring water over Naruto's head.

"I knew what you were gonna do. I knew that other ninja was doing something to stop you. I just gave it something extra. Wind element. Kakashi Sensei told me that Fire gets stronger when a Wind element is used, that's what he told me."

"You're a Wind element type?"

"Figures doesn't it? My main element is the only one that is useless to fight against you with."

Personally Sasuke didn't mind that kind of news. "You could have warned me."

Naruto gave him a tired sort of smile. "I didn't realise the great Sasuke Uchiha needed to be warned. Since when have you started listening to my warnings before?"

Before he could stop himself, Sasuke smiled a little at that. Then he stopped when he realised what he was doing.

"You could have killed me dobe. Then you would be taking me back to your village in a box."

Naruto stopped smiling too. "At least you would have been back where you belonged. Back where people still think fondly of you."

"Oh yeah, and who might these people be? You can't pretend there is anyone but you who really wanted me to return for any other reasons than to stand trial for my supposed treason."

"Nobody said anything about a trial," Naruto told him which was either a very clever or very naive way of wording it. "And Sakura wants you back."

Sasuke snorted. "I don't miss her. Having her fawning over me day and night is not something I've missed."

Naruto frowned. "Having someone like Sakura caring for you shouldn't be a hassle."

"Then why don't you date her?"

"What makes you think I don't want to? But she'll never like me like she likes you. You should be grateful for something like that."

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. It was a hard gesture to make out with nothing but moonlight to see by, but Naruto must have recognised the expression.

"Oh gee I forgot. The great Uchiha Sasuke probably still has all the girls pining for him. You probably have girls in every town these days."

"Why would I bother?"

That was apparently not the reaction he'd been expecting. He lost his anger once more and settled on puzzled.

"Why wouldn't you?"

"I have priorities."

"Really?" Naruto asked surprised. "I knew you were pretty driven on this revenge thing but seriously, you never think about girls and stuff?"

"No."

"Why?" Naruto asked again.

Frustrated, Sasuke gave up trying to cool him down and let his hands drop into the water by his sides.

"People are not interesting to me. I can't care at all about some random girl I meet to be even vaguely attracted."

"Haven't you even kissed anyone?"

Sasuke glared at him. "Not by choice."

Naruto watched him for a moment, and then his eyes got real wide. "Someone forced you? _You_? How could anyone force you!"

Sasuke realised after a few moments that Naruto had forgotten about their accidental kiss when they were at school and thought he was talking about something else. Well he was right about one thing, but not about another. Apart from the time Sasuke had been thinking about in the classroom, no one had forced him to kiss them. No, not to kiss them.

"Dobe, there is something wrong with your memory."

It took Naruto a few moments and then he was grinning again. "Oh that. How embarrassing. Looking back on it though the look on the girl's faces was almost worth it though. They were all so pissed. Wait, I was your only ever kiss?"

"It wasn't really a kiss," Sasuke reminded him.

"Whatever. That's still pretty pathetic."

"Hnn."

"Hey Sasuke? I'm still pretty warm. I thought I'd be cooler by now."

Distracted, Sasuke hadn't noticed. He placed a hand on Naruto's cheek. It felt so hot it was almost burning.

"Idiot, why did you exhaust yourself when you were already injured. You always have to push yourself don't you?"

"I'd never thought I'd say this but you sound just like Sakura. But I know that she sez it cause she's worried about me. You're just annoyed it'll take you longer to get me back to the Akatsuki."

"You're aren't pushing yourself on purpose to make yourself sicker are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah right, I made those ninja attack us tonight. By the way, shouldn't we move on?"

Sasuke shook his head. "They found us by accident I'm sure. Besides, those were Shadow Ninja. Obviously some didn't agree with handing you over to me. They weren't very skilled, I doubt they were part of a larger force. I'm surprised they managed to stumble upon us in the first place. This spot is hard to find if you don't know exactly where to look."

"Okay. But I didn't push myself on purpose. Even if you are going to take me to die, why do you think I'd want to stay here with you?"

The brashness of the question shocked Sasuke a little. "I don't get it. Half the time you say you want to take me back and that we were friends, the other half of you can't seem to stand the sight of me. Are you going to choose one or is this indecision going to continue?"

"Do you care?"

"No."

"Then don't ask."

Sasuke moved his hand from Naruto's cheek to his chin and forced the other to look at him.

"Fine, I'm curious. Tell me."

For a moment Naruto looked like he was going to be stubborn and not answer. Eventually though he replied.

"I want you to come back. I think that would be best for everyone including you. But I know you wont come. I know you don't want to. That makes me angry. That you just don't consider us anymore."

"Whatever. Doesn't mean I care."

"That's exactly what I mean! You said you had focus because of your mission for revenge, that you'd do _anything _to achieve your goals but that I couldn't do that. You're wrong. I'd do anything to make you _want_ to come back."

"I doubt that. You would find what I have done repulsive. You'd never allow yourself to break your self righteous moral code." Sasuke told him matter-of-factly with just the smallest hint of humor.

"Try me,"

Sasuke smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant sort of a smile, He'd thought of something, reminded by their conversation earlier that he knew Naruto would balk at doing.

"Kiss me again, then. Prove to me you'd do something you don't want to just to achieve your goals."

Of course, Naruto was looking at him like he'd gone mad. He didn't seem to realise Sasuke was just testing him.

To Sasuke's own shock though, he found himself wanting to see this through. He leaned in to touch their lips together. He didn't really understand why he was doing this. Was he just proving a point to his old team mate, giving him a taste of what he'd do, what he'd already done to prove that he'd do whatever it took? Naruto hadn't stopped him yet, but it wasn't like he was joining in either. He was probably suffering from a little shock. He stayed witless for a few moments longer till Sasuke drew away from him and yet again plastered that cruel, knowing look over his expression. But he didn't say anything, just merely waited for Naruto to regain his wits.

"Fine, you've got determination." Naruto said eventually. "But that wasn't much. Spending a few moments doing something you hated where nobody got hurt doesn't mean that much."

Still that unreadable look. "Who said I hated it?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Do you want to see how focussed I really am?"

"No," Naruto replied quickly. "No," he replied more firmly. "You've proved your point."

"Sure, whatever you say. But you never would have done it. I told you, you don't have what it takes."

"Why because I don't want to kill puppies and old people. Because I didn't want to kiss another man?"

"I have never killed a puppy."

Naruto very obviously didn't read into that answer.

"It's not like you to not have a comeback," Sasuke observed. He had to admit it to himself, he was rather enjoying this moment. He had Naruto a little flustered, a little out of sorts and he liked the feeling of control he was getting from that.

Naruto shrugged. "What can I say? Do you think I want to be like you?"

Sasuke spent a few moments watching him, resuming pouring water over him every now and then. His temperature didn't seem as bad anymore but his body still felt too warm when he touched him.

"And here I thought you always wanted to be like me. You were jealous when we were younger. You hated me because of that."

"Yeah and then I got to know you and hated you because of your personality instead." Naruto muttered. "But you drove me to be better. It's because of you that I made it as far as I did. It's because of you that I trained so hard all these years."

"I thought it was because you wanted to be the Hokage?" Sasuke teased.

"That too. But not half as much as I wanted to get you back."

Sasuke stopped what he was doing and eyed Naruto with a dark look. "And how is that going for you, exactly?"

Naruto glared right back. "Badly."

* * *

_Note:_

_Okay, so this was a little short, but I had to cut it off there because the next and last chapter starts with a brand new day and it felt better to stop there and start the new day afresh. Still, a little action, a little awkward kissing, nice little chapter no? I saw that there were a lot of people that put this fic onto their alerts and fav stories which is really flattering and nice and I thank you all great.y. However, please please review as well. It helps me get the focus to write more if I think lots of people are waiting for it. Yeah see, I'm not above bribery he he and input is always so appreciated._

_- Dash._


	3. Chapter 3

I Want You To Want To

Part III

In the light of the new day, Naruto's wounds looked a lot better. He wasn't entirely healed yet though and although he could most assuredly walk on his own now Sasuke was reluctant to get them moving. After all, just because he could move around on his own didn't mean he could move at any sort of speed. If they had to walk back at a normal pace with regular stops it would still take them a long time to return. And that was if they didn't run into any more Shadow ninja that disagreed with their leader's handling of Naruto. The next time he was in the area, Sasuke made a mental note to have a chat to the village leader about the loyalty of the ninja under his command.

Naruto, whom Sasuke had assumed would want to dawdle considering the fate that awaited him at the end of the journey seemed a little surprised at Sasuke's reluctance to move on and all to happy to get moving himself.

"I'm fine," he told Sasuke for about the tenth time while Sasuke had been checking him over.

"Hnn."

"We don't need to hang around here," Naruto repeated.

"Why are you so eager to move on?"

"Why aren't you?"

"I asked you first."

"And people think _I_ haven't grown up," Naruto muttered. "I just don't see the point of hanging around any longer."

"So you have given up on trying to convince me then? I thought you'd value more time to convince me to return." Sasuke pointed out poking at one of Naruto's ribs he'd been sure had been broken only yesterday. By the way he winced, it seemed merely bruised now.

"I don't really see how another day will make a difference. Besides, it doesn't mean I can't talk to you along the way anyway."

"Do you even listen to yourself speak? How ambivalent can one person be?"

Naruto didn't answer. Possibly because he didn't know what 'ambivalent' meant.

"You haven't answered my question yet." Naruto reminded him instead.

"Because there may be more Shadow ninja. And even if you aren't completely fighting fit, I need you to be able to at least defend yourself so I don't have to look after you in a fight."

"I can fight," Naruto replied dismissively.

Sasuke stopped what he was doing and stood up. "Prove it."

And so he did. Or at least he tried to. They used no ninjutsu, just taijutsu and sparred for a while. However little esteem Sasuke held Naruto skills in he was, he had to admit, at least a little impressed. Naruto was strong and quick and he seemed to have learned a certain amount of restraint and tactical thinking that he was previously lacking in but in his condition he was no match for Sasuke and soon he was puffed and tired.

"That's enough, you should rest."

Naruto wasn't interested though. "I can go on. Don't take it easy on me just because I'm injured."

"You're weak, continuing would be a waste of time," Sasuke told him dismissively.

He'd meant that Naruto was weak because of his injuries, but apparently Naruto took the comment to heart. He charged at Sasuke again and even managed to knock him down. They rolled but Sasuke got the upper hand, rolled Naruto onto his back and held his hands down above his head.

"I can't relate to you anymore. I don't know what I have to do to prove myself to you!" Naruto yelled up at him.

"I was referring to your weakened condition," Sasuke told him mildly. "Dobe, you get riled up too easily."

"You always used to say I was useless. That I was weak," Naruto admitted a little more calmly. "I always thought that's why you never really took me seriously. You never considered us equals. I always thought that when you saw that I was your equal you might come back."

"That's a little egotistical isn't it? You think my desire to stay away has anything to do with you or anyone else that used to call themselves my friend?"

"Not totally," Naruto admitted. "But I can't help but wonder if you'd have found it so easy to leave if you knew or cared about what it'd do to the people you left behind."

"I think the keyword in that sentence is 'cared'." Sasuke told him bluntly.

"Okay fine, but answer this for me: If you cared so little about us before why did you wait till someone had to tempt you away? Why if you didn't care about anyone in the village at all didn't you leave before that?"

"I thought it was my best chance of getting more powerful. Until something more promising came along that is."

"That's bullshit."

"Why would I bother lying to you?"

"Because lying to everyone, including yourself, is a great way of never having to deal with the truth. You can lie to yourself all day to justify whatever it is you've done and therefore take no real responsibility for your actions because you've made yourself believe they're all warranted. You're always calling me an idiot right? Well even I can see what you're doing, why cant you?"

Sasuke let got of his hands and sat up, Naruto did too after a moment. He seemed to sense that he might have gone that one step too far. Especially after what Sasuke said next.

"You know maybe if you hadn't been so useless, maybe if you were any kind of rival to me I might have stayed. I might have been able to push myself to be better than you as you said you pushed yourself to be better than me. Has that thought ever occurred to you?"

"Yes," Naruto admitted. "But I have been getting better. I've pushed myself even more while you've been gone. It hasn't been easy."

"Sure, I'll bet you had it so tough huh?"

Even Naruto seemed to be getting a little fed up with the childishness of this. "What, are you gonna tell me again how you had to do all these horrible things to get powerful again? I'll tell you again that'd I'd do the same to get what I wanted. I'd do anything."

"I don't believe-"

But Sasuke had been cut off from finishing that sentence because Naruto had grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him forward and kissed him soundly.

To say Sasuke was shocked would be an understatement. Naruto was still obviously hung up on their conversation from last night and how Sasuke had told him to kiss him to show him how far he'd go to get what he wanted. But he was still surprised that Naruto would actually do it. But whatever Naruto was doing was even less surprising than his own reaction to it. He didn't push him away, just the opposite. Before he knew what he was doing he raised his hand to the back of Naruto's neck, urging him closer. Naruto didn't pull away as expected and when Sasuke opened his mouth a little, Naruto actually did as well and tongues met for the briefest of moments before Naruto's resolve seemed to reach its limit and he pulled away.

"See, I proved you wrong." Naruto told him.

Sasuke watched him. Naruto's face was a little flushed and not from the sparring. His lips were still a little wet from the kiss.

Seeing Naruto like that, his face flushed, his breathing hard, something came over him. But instead of dealing with it like a rational human being Sasuke couldn't stop himself from reverting back to being his usual nasty self. He just _had _to mock him a little more. Instead of teasing him though, he repeated exactly what Naruto had said to him the previous night.

"Fine, you've got determination. Spending a few moments doing something you hated where nobody got hurt doesn't mean that much."

But instead of rising to the comment Naruto simply repeated what Sasuke had said back to him. "Who said I hated it?"

Sasuke took a few moments to decide whether he should read into that or not before deciding on the latter. "Funny," he said sarcastically.

"What made you ask me to do that last night anyway?"

"Because we had just been talking about it and I knew you'd never do it voluntarily. Well," he amended. "I didn't think you would."

"So you asked me to do something you didn't think I'd do? Was that the only reason?"

Sasuke caught on after a moment and he almost laughed. "You think I wanted to kiss you? There goes that ego again. Just because I said I didn't hate it doesn't mean I like you or anything. Maybe it has just been a while and anything would do. Besides, you know I only said I didn't hate it to get to you."

"Been a while?"

Sasuke smirked. "Just because you're some sad little virgin doesn't mean the rest of us are. So unless you've got anything else to prove you might like to keep your lips to yourself from now on."

There were probably a lot of things Sasuke had just said to him that should have made Naruto very angry. But apparently nothing had. Apparently he had decided he did have something more to prove because he leaned in and kissed him again.

Okay so this was even more unexpected. He wasn't sure where this was going but it did make Sasuke wonder where he might hope it was going. He was getting that feeling again, the one he'd had moments before when he'd been watching a post kissed Naruto. Being kissed again was apparently going to make him deal with it.

He realised he'd never done this before when he'd chosen to. He'd been willing to a degree before because refusing might mean the end to his training with Orochimaru, and that wasn't an option. He'd needed to train to get stronger. But now he had a choice and he wasn't being forced in any sense of the term. After he'd killed Orochimaru and left the hideout, he'd never thought about the possibilities of other partners and he knew deep down that was because his past encounters had probably soured the desire to find some. And never in a million years would he have thought about his childhood friend in that way. But now the opportunity was here and apparently willing at least for something if not everything and he didn't find the idea as unappealing as he might have previously thought. It was doubtful that there was anyone left alive that he had shared more with than Naruto and while he'd viewed him with little else but scorn for the most part, being around him lately had reminded him about all the little things he had, albeit grudgingly, admired about him. There was a closeness here that he had all but forgotten about. And maybe that was what was needed to erase the sourness of the past. The only question remaining was, just how far he could take it? Just how far did he want to? Or for that matter, how far did Naruto want to take it?

He decided to find out. Just to ease his curiousity. Yeah, that was why…

He deepened the kiss as before, coaxing Naruto to part his lips again which he did do after a moment. But instead of tentative little tongue flicks this time he pushed his tongue in a little deeper, a little more roughly.

They were sitting, turned toward each other, but bodies facing in opposite directions so it was impossible at the moment to get closer to each other, for Sasuke to touch more of him. He was about to find out if Naruto would freak out if he was pushed onto his back when Naruto solved the problem, leaning back and pulling Sasuke by the front of his shirt so the other man was leaning over him, still kissing him. Sasuke used this new position to best effect and, bracing himself on one hand ran his now free hand down over Naruto's chest being careful of the recent injuries, and then rake his fingers over stomach muscles that twitched a little from the feel on his fingers.

He moved his lips off Naruto's, over his jaw and down his neck, viciously attacking the warm smooth skin he found there.

Naruto moaned a little. Something about it didn't sound right. It didn't sound faked exactly, just a little off.

That little moan made Sasuke pause. He wondered for the first time if Naruto actually wanted to do this. It seemed a little out of character to say the least to be so readily into something like this with a man who had previously tried to best him, belittle him and, oh yeah, kill him. You'd think he'd be a little more reluctant, a little less moany and a little more freaked out. He wondered if Naruto was pretending. It hadn't really occurred to him before. Ego played a big part of that. So many people wanted him that he hadn't thought that there might be somebody who didn't. It occurred to Sasuke that Naruto might only be doing this with him now, all willing and trusting because he was trying to prove a point. That he'd do anything to get Sasuke to want to come back with him, even this.

What was even more of a shocking thought to him was why he even really cared enough for this to give him pause. He knew by this point that he wanted to keep going, to see how far he could take it, but it was bothering him that Naruto might not be feeling the same way. And it bothered him even more that he found himself caring. But he did. He didn't want Naruto to do the things he'd had to do to achieve his goals. He didn't want to be the one that forced him to do those things either. The idea of being that person made him feel a little sick.

He stopped kissing him but didn't move away, merely moved his face up to he could look into Naruto's bright blue eyes. His eyes were a little wide. Sasuke's own eyes narrowed a little.

"Tell me dobe, are you proving a point this time?"

Naruto blinked at the question. He seemed surprised by the by it. But whether it was because Sasuke had found him out or because it was just generally an odd question to ask in a moment like this, Sasuke couldn't tell.

"Only how much I care about you."

Sasuke was a little put off by that answer. There was a lot of feeling behind that simple statement. So much so he almost didn't realise that Naruto hadn't really answered his question.

He went to point this out.

"That wasn't-"

"Sasuke, just shut up would you."

That wasn't an answer either true, but this time it seemed Naruto wasn't going to let him think about it too much. Naruto reached up around the back of his head, twining his fingers through the dark glossy hair and pulled Sasuke's head back down for another kiss.

He understood in that moment how much he wanted this. Wanted to do this with someone who might actually forced those previously bad feelings away. The reasons behind exactly why still might have eluded him, or at least it was nothing he wanted to properly dwell on, but he really wanted this. He knew at least part of the reason. Having the choice to decide when and where and who with was a factor. Why it was Naruto exactly was part of what still confused him. Having a distinct feeling of control was an even bigger reason. He could easily control the situation. Naruto seemed to be willing, he might do anything Sasuke asked him to do. But that could have been true of so many people if he'd wanted it to be. So many people seemed to want him, he could have had his pick. He hadn't made the choice before now probably because of what had happened in the past, but why now? And that was just it. Naruto wasn't one of those fawning nameless people he didn't really know or care to know better. This person here didn't just want him for his body, because of his looks or because of his talent. He knew him, knew what he'd done and still cared about him, wanted him and desperately seemed to be wanted in return.

Well, that particular wish was easily granted.

His hand continued its previous journey over Naruto's stomach and down till he was able to slide it underneath the waistband of his pants. What he found there was encouraging and when he touched him, Naruto moaned again.

This time, it sounded just right.

* * *

A little later Sasuke woke to the uncomfortable feeling of sweating. During his little nap, the sun had changed position so they were no longer under the shade of the trees but lying out in the direct sunlight. It had been cold through the night, but the days were still quite hot and Sasuke could feel his skin beginning to burn. He sat up groggily and wiped the sweat off his brow and out of his eyes. With his movement, the body beside him shifted a little, made a groaning sound, rolled over and started snoring again.

Sasuke half smiled at the sight and snorted, "Some things never change."

Then he caught himself smiling and instead of dropping the smile, he let his expression show as he watched the man beside him sleep.

"Well, maybe some things do," he amended softly.

Naruto was still mostly in the shade, so Sasuke didn't feel the urge to wake him. But for him sitting here was making him hotter and more uncomfortable so he got up and went over to the lagoon. Picking a deep spot, he dived in. The cool water hit him like a punch in the guts, but it was still better than sweating.

He surfaced after a few moments and shook the water from his eyes. Once he could see again he floated onto his back and closed his eyes, enjoying the coolness that surrounded him and the relaxing feeling of just letting the water buoy him up.

It was in this contemplative position that he began to take stock of the day's events.

Okay, so what had happened earlier had been unexpected. His thoughts on why exactly it had happened weren't much clearer. He understood a little, but there was still a lot to sort through. One startling thought he realised now was that if it had been anyone else here with him, this would not have happened. Alright, so the only reason it had happened at all was because of a dare for Naruto to kiss him. Sasuke didn't think any of this would have come about unless Naruto had gotten up the courage to take that dare. But why had he really dared him in the first place? Sure, they'd been talking about it moments before and that had given him the idea. But he could not think of a single person he would have said that to. Some other person would have been flattered and grateful for the chance, but he had not thought Naruto would be. And really, he hadn't been reduced to a moaning, flustered wreck like any of his so called admirers would have been. He just wanted Sasuke to want him, to treat him like an equal. And Sasuke could understand that in a way.

His pride and ego told him that no one was his equal, not really. So he tended to look down on people and their silly infatuations, their illogical ties and loyalties and their idiotic codes of honour that they adhered to. He didn't see equals, he saw inferiority and lack of drive. He had seen Naruto's attempts to get him to come back and viewed it all with scorn. It was a silly little warm and fuzzy fantasy about some bond they had apparently had with one another. Sasuke didn't think that Naruto knew him at all to even think he'd entertain any part of that little fantasy. But now that didn't seem so true. Being forced to spend time with him had more of a calming effect on him than Sasuke would have thought possible. Naruto was, after all, hands down one of _the_ most annoying people he'd ever met. But he was familiar.

He knew Naruto, and he suspected that Naruto knew him pretty well too. Deep down Naruto seemed to realise Sasuke wanted power, was driven by revenge and would never come back to the village unless he wanted to. He knew all this and seemed to understand it better now than he had in the past. Despite this, because Naruto was so driven in his own little quest he kept on believing that his friend might come back if only he kept on trying. That was what it meant to be driven. Training for it, believing in it and never questioning his own motivation. This is what he wanted and he would never give up on it. Sasuke could respect that a little at least. It might have been a stupid fantasy still, but he could understand the powerful want to achieve your goals.

Because of his inability to look on other people as equals, he always seemed to put on a front for them too. Well maybe it wasn't so much a front, he never pretended to be someone he wasn't. But he did show people a cool, calm and disinterested side of himself because he felt no compelling reason to be warm toward them or interested in anything about them. Their petty thoughts of him were beneath him to even care about. But he could not be that way with Naruto. He had never really been able to be. Naruto bought out a side of him that nobody else ever really saw. Okay so most of the time it was annoyance sure, but even being annoyed made Sasuke react, made him think, made him talk about things he never did otherwise. He'd spoken more to Naruto in the past day and a half that he had spoken to any one person in a very long time. Naruto drew things and emotions out of him when nobody else could without even really trying, just by being himself and because of that, even when he was annoyed, it was kind of a relief just to let the words flow and the emotions show a little more. It was calming in a way.

His head went underwater when something grabbed him around the waist and dragged him underwater. Sasuke's first instinct was to fight back. But he fought the urge down when he was released quickly and Sasuke realised what must have happened. Naruto had snuck up on him.

And sure enough when his head broke the surface again and he drew in a lungful of needed air, he saw Naruto standing not two paces away in water up to his shoulders and grinning inanely.

"Wow, you must have been miles away," Naruto remarked. "Times past I never could have snuck up on you without you knowing."

Sasuke shook his head a little to get the wet hair out of his eyes and scowled at him. "Dobe, I was thinking."

"Uh huh. Uchiha Sasuke, dies while thinking. I doubt anyone would believe it. The thinking part anyway."

Sasuke smirked. "Only if someone with any sort of talent were to catch me off guard that is."

Whether Naruto realised Sasuke was just teasing him or not, Sasuke didn't find out immediately. Naruto dove underwater and stayed down for a while. Sasuke was expecting some sort of retaliation from the barb but forced himself once again not to react when Naruto broke the surface directly behind him. He felt a pair of arms encircle his waist and a wet pair of lips brushed the back of his neck.

"Teme."

"Dobe."

Okay, he hadn't been expecting Naruto to want to talk about what had just happened between them. Actually he'd kinda hoped that would be the case. But he also hadn't expected him to act quite so casually about it either. He sure hadn't expected him to want more afterwards.

Sasuke found that he didn't mind it though. That was also a bit of a surprise. This was, in a way a bit new to him but he didn't expect he'd like the closeness. Perhaps because it wasn't all fuzzy warm holding each other type of post sex stupidity and more like a sensual sort of carry on from before. This sort of closeness made him feel warm in all the wrong places. He found he liked it.

The lips ran up the back of his neck and up to his hairline where he was kissed. It sent shivers down his spine. He turned around, grabbing Naruto's hips and pulled him closer so he could kiss him properly. It was perhaps a shade more roughly than he had intended but Naruto wasn't complaining. In fact he joined in rather enthusiastically, putting one palm flat against the small of Sasuke's back, the other one circling up behind to grab his shoulder trying, if anything, to draw their bodies impossibly closer.

After the cool water, Naruto's skin felt very warm and firm pressed up against him. It felt very good.

"You're pretty good at this," Sasuke told him breathlessly once he had his lips free to speak.

"Good enough to want more?"

Just as he was contemplating round two, another thought occurred to him. What about round three and four? That would never happen if Sasuke turned him over to the Akatsuki. Did he want another chance like this with Naruto in the future badly enough to look the other way and let Naruto escape? It seemed a silly idea at first. This was just something that was happening between them now. It wasn't meant to be a preview of what might happen in the future. This wasn't a romantic caring moment. Right? So why was he suddenly thinking about the future. Okay, so maybe it might be nice to think that one day something like this might happen again, but even if he did let him go, what were the chances? Probably not good. But then again they were nonexistent entirely if Naruto was dead…

Abruptly Naruto stopped. His expression became blank and he cocked his head to the side fractionally as though he were listening to something.

"Do you feel…?" Naruto began.

But Sasuke had already sensed it too. There were other ninja nearby.

Hurriedly the pair swam to the bank, boosted themselves out of the water and went about getting dressed. Since his imprisonment Naruto had only had a pair of pants and so was dressed far more quickly than Sasuke. Therefore he had a little more time to concentrate on the approaching chakra signatures.

Just as Sasuke finished dressing Naruto's eyes widened.

"Sakura and Kakashi. They've found me."

Before Sasuke could stop him, he felt a surge of strong chakra emanate from the man beside him as Naruto silently let his team know where he was. This wasn't good. Leaf Ninja, especially Kakashi, were more a danger to him than the Shadow Ninja.

Naruto must have been stronger than Sasuke had expected because he summoned a shadow clone. The clone grabbed Sasuke's arm and started toward the forest, away from the people moving toward them. If Naruto was right and they were friends, there was nothing really that Sasuke could do. He could stand and fight of course, but no doubt he'd be outnumbered. And there was probably a small part of him as well that didn't want to see which side Naruto would take in the fight. Even after everything, he sincerely doubted he'd chose Sasuke.

Apparently everyone he cared about chose the village over him.

Wait, did he care about…?

The clone stopped and let go of his arm. "You need to go," Naruto told him. "They came for me."

"You knew they would." Sasuke suddenly realised. "You knew I'd never get a chance to hand you over."

"They were tracking me before I got captured," Naruto admitted. "I got accused of something, it was a misunderstanding. I needed to run ahead and get away while Kakashi Sensei sorted it out. They were going to catch up with me when it was cleared up. But that doesn't matter. You can't be seen, Kakashi would have to try and capture you."

"I thought that's what you wanted, to get me to come back."

Naruto looked at him for a moment then lowered his eyes, "I want you to come back. But it's like I said, I want you to want to come back. I thought maybe I could convince you that there was something waiting for you there."

Sasuke didn't respond.

Naruto apparently didn't take this well. "After everything we've done, do you even care about me?"

He didn't want to admit it. Admitting something like that would be like showing he had some sort of weakness. But for the life of him he could find no compelling reason to lie at this point.

"Yes."

Naruto smiled. "Well, that's something. Did I at least prove to you how much I wanted you to come back?"

"Yes," Sasuke paused for a moment. "Did you only do all that to prove that to me. Just because I told you that you needed to show me just how far you'd go to show your determination?"

Naruto didn't seem to want to answer for a moment. But then he did answer. Sasuke at first wished he hadn't.

"Yes."

Sasuke scowled. So now the truth was coming out. He had been right to ask before, to question Naruto's motives. No wonder Naruto hadn't given him a straight answer. "So you did something you hated just to prove a point to me."

Naruto suddenly grinned again reached forward and placed his hand in the crook of Sasuke's neck in an obviously affectionate gesture. "I know you'll come back. You know how much I care. I wouldn't have even tried to prove anything to you if I didn't." Naruto paused for a moment before continuing "And besides, who said I hated it?"

Sasuke at first didn't believe what he was hearing. "Huh? What does that mean?"

But with that last sentence, the jutsu was released and Sasuke found himself talking to thin air.

Back in the makeshift camp Sakura was ranting at him while Sai looked on with interest. But Kakashi was the only one who noticed his slight smile. Unbeknownst to everyone around him he had just released the shadow clone who had escaped with Sasuke.

"Care to let us all in on the joke?" Kakashi asked, but not in an unfriendly way. Obviously he was curious to know why he was smiling because smiling was usually not the expression somebody had when Sakura was threatening to beat ten kinds of shit out of them.

"Yeah I care. C'mon let's go home."

The End.

Probably.

* * *

_Okay, so I was probably trying too hard to make it not sappy so I'm not entirely happy with the ending but I think it works nicely in a way. Nobody screams out their undying love or anything but you get the feeling of mutual closeness without too much cheese. It is hopefully obvious that they care about one another, even if Sasuke isn't quite up to admitting it yet and I like that Naruto admitted to only really going along with it to prove his point on just how far he'd go to show how much he wanted Sasuke to return to the village with him. Hopefully you also get the impression that it wasn't a difficult or totally unwanted thing for him to do either. Of course if I ever get around to any sort of sequel I might delve into that a little more, but at the moment I'm quite happy to end things here. _

_Oh and I apologise for no graphic sex scenes. It's not that I don't like writing them, I just wasn't really in the mood and I don't think it needed it. I may change my mind later and re-write the scene though. Haven't decided._

_Well I hope I managed to entertain you all just a little bit. Please review and let me know because I'm really curious about what everyone thought about the ending._

_- Dash_


	4. I Need You To Need To  Preview

_Thank you all so much for the reviews, you've convinced me. Here's a preview to the next story just to whet your appetites. It should be posted within the week so if you want to Author Alert me or just search for the fic later it's up to you. It won't be posted here, I'll start a brand new story for this one. This tiny tiny preview is taken from the beginning of the first chapter Sorry it's so small, but rest assured that the proper first chapter will be much longer._

_Thanks all_

_-Dash_

_**Update - Chapter 1 in it's complete form has been posted as a new story now. Just check my profile page for the completed chapter. Thanks!**_

* * *

**I Need You To Need To**

**Preview of Part I**

So this mission sucked.

Naruto figured that Granny Tsunade had been just trying to placate him when she said that this was a B Rank mission. Go to the temple in the in the Land of the Sun and acquire the gold Orb before enemy ninja got it first. So far he hadn't seen any of these supposed enemy ninja and he'd been on the road for three nights already. It was getting boring.

He supposed he should be grateful, getting to go on a mission like this on his own. But he knew deep down that it was just because things in the village were so tight at the moment. There were too many missions and not enough ninja and without missions no money would come into the village. He wouldn't be totally on his own though. As soon as Sai finished up with his current mission he was going to rendezvous with Naruto and then both of them would complete the mission and fly back home. Getting back would be much quicker than Naruto had gotten here with the aid of Sai's ninjutsu. But the rendezvous was still more than four days away and he hoped to get the mission completed before Sai's arrival.

There was no way he needed help on this mission. Well that's what he'd thought.

He'd gotten to the village on the morning of the fourth day out on the road -still three nights shy of Sai's arrival- and been met by one of the men responsible for hiring him for the mission.

"Let's go to the new Temple so my Master can tell you the details," the monk had told him.

"Uh, sure."

Walking with the monk through the village, Naruto was taken back by his surroundings. This village was a minor village in a very small land but his surroundings looked rich. The village itself was about a quarter of the size of Konoha but the houses were large lavish looking affairs and the businesses looked busy and profitable. They passed quite a few hotels that all looked luxuriant, not one little dive amongst them. There were a lot of people walking around.

"Wow," Naruto commented looking around as they walked, "This place sure is popular."

The monk smiled at him, "Akemi is a vacation town. We have hot springs because of the mountain and the weather is perfect during our tourist season. It's a very popular place and we get people from all around spending time here every year."

Okay so that explained a lot. And walking past the hot springs spa Naruto wondered if he might have enough money to stay there a night if he got finished with the mission early and still had time left before Sai showed up. The thought suddenly made Naruto a little impatient to get the mission started.

It still took them ten more minutes to reach the Temple and another twenty before he got showed into a lavish looking chamber in the back of the temple.

The monk with him bowed before the only other man in the room.

"Master this is the ninja from The Hidden Leaf…"

Then monk paused and reddened slightly when he realized he hadn't gotten Naruto's name. Naruto didn't mind.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto supplied with pride.

The monk nodded his thanks and introduced, "This is Master Takahiro. He is responsible for safeguarding the Old Temple."

Naruto nodded to him.

"If you would prefer to fresh up before we get started, we have-" Takahiro began but Naruto waved him off.

"I'd like to get started right away if that's alright."

The Master seemed pleased by his response. "I am a little ashamed to admit that we need help with this," The Master started with a wry smile, "But since we haven't had a security issue like this in more than a hundred years, it's taken us a little off guard. How much information did Lady Hokage give you before you left?"

"Not a lot." Naruto admitted. "She said that the letter you sent with the messenger got damaged and he didn't notice till he got to the village. All she could make out was that you needed something taken back to the Hidden Leaf for protection."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. I'm afraid there's a little more to it than that."

Rather than make him uneasy, Naruto was happy with the news. Maybe this mission would turn out to be more interesting than he'd thought it would be.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Naruto told him confidently.

The Master seemed pleased by his response and motioned for Naruto to come and look at a nearby map spread out on a table.

"The object that we want you to take back to Konoha is located in the Old Temple."

"The Orb?"

"That's right. Unfortunately the Old Temple where our ancestors used to protect the Orb has been abandoned for centuries. There was a big war that wiped out all of the Master monks at the time but one. This monk spent the rest of his life setting up the temple security systems. He taught his apprentice the secret of how to navigate the temple, but the apprentice himself died before he could pass the knowledge on. Since that time some monks have tried to get into the temple but none have ever come out again."

"Traps killed them?" Naruto guessed uncertainly.

"Yes, that's exactly right. We have a map of the trap system, but knowing where they are and being able to actually get past them are two different things. We just don't have the skills unfortunately. And it compounds matters that the entire temple has a permanent darkness cast over it that can't be overcome by any mundane methods. We've taken torches there, but it doesn't seem to have an effect. The torch wouldn't illuminate anything but itself I'm afraid. We thought if we could show a ninja the map he might be able to get into the temple and retrieve the Orb in order to protect it."

This news wasn't good for Naruto. He wasn't really suited to this sort of a mission. But it was still a challenge and Naruto could get into that.

"Granny Tsunade mentioned enemy ninja?" Naruto asked after peering at the map for a while.

"Yes, this is the reason we are even contemplating sending anyone in there after so long. A week ago we caught a ninja sneaking around the temple. He killed himself before we could capture him, but it has us worried that someone may be thinking of stealing the Orb. We haven't spotted anymore since then, but it might just be a matter of time."

"What's so special about the Orb anyway?"

The Master frowned slightly at the question. "You might find this a little hard to believe, but it is said that the Orb is responsible for our land's perfect weather. We have perfect rainfall for crops, sunshine throughout most of the year and it never gets very cold. It is why our village has such a large tourist trade. Our weather earns this village a lot of money for the traders here. Something like that could be worth a lot to another village."

"Aren't you afraid that if I take it away, the good weather will stop?"

"We have reason to believe that it doesn't matter where it is kept. The Orb is currently tuned in to our land, it should keep working even from the Fire Country."

Naruto found it hard to believe that an Orb could influence the weather, but whatever, a mission was a mission.

"Okay. Where is the temple?"

"It's behind the village. There is a path from the back of this Temple that will lead you to the entrance to the Old Temple in the mountainside. It takes about a day to walk there from here."

For Naruto that meant it was more like half a day's travel.

"I would suggest," The Master said watching Naruto's expression, "That you spend the rest of the day and night memorizing this map. You will not get far into the temple without it. You must remember that once you are inside you will not be able to see where you are going. The traps are all deadly so you must be prepared."

He had a point. Studying wasn't really Naruto's strong point either so he tended not to try. But then again, his life hadn't depended on it before.

"Okay. I'll set out first thing tomorrow."


End file.
